Despite a solid start to the day the ASX closed Monday at the same point it closed on Friday.

After gaining as much as 0.3% by 11am the ASX 200 closed flat at 7,538 points. The ASX Emerging Companies Index finished slightly higher, by 0.03% at 2,252.

The best sectors were property trusts and financials which gained 1.3% with the latter being boosted an 8% post-earnings surge from Suncorp (ASX:SUN). Meanwhile the worst sector was resources which lost 1.06%.

While some Asian markets including Singapore and Tokyo were on holidays, markets in Hong Kong and Shenzen went higher today, following Wall Street on Friday.

In spite of the retreats of gold and oil as well as the latest COVID-19 restrictions in Australia and China, markets were buoyed by the latest jobs data in the US that exceeded forecasts and the US Senate coming closer to passing a US$1 trillion infrastructure package.

 

TODAY’S BIGGEST WINNERS

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.

Stocks highlighted in yellow rose after making announcements during intraday trade.

Wordpress Table Plugin

AXP Energy (ASX:AXP) rose after a revenue update, making another $1.8 million in revenue in the month of July.

BluGlass (ASX:BLG) rose after the latest version of its laser diode technology passed a proof of concept phase.

Cyber safety platform Family Zone Cyber Safety (ASX:FZO) completed a $114 million capital raising to help it acquire Smoothwall – the UK’s leading provider of K-12 digital safety solutions.

In resources, Lithium Energy (ASX:LEL) was one winner after revealing to shareholders it was closer to exploration.

 

TODAY’S BIGGEST LOSERS

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.

Stocks highlighted in yellow fell after making announcements during intraday trade.

Wordpress Table Plugin

Textiles company GLG (ASX:GLE) fell after announcing executive changes.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

$2.4 billion fintech lender Latitude Financial (ASX:LFS) is forking out $200 million to acquire fellow fintech Symple. Symple will become the lending platform for all Latitude’s personal and auto loans and will account for 160,000 customers and a $2.5 billion loan portfolio.

Jadar Resources (ASX:JDR) signed a term sheet to buy a portfolio of projects in the Northern Territory prospective for several commodities, particularly tin and copper. It will pay $6.5 million in cash for the package which includes 32 mining leases totalling over 300 hectares.

Race Oncology (ASX:RAC) kicked off another clinical trial in Israel against Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. It has just dosed the first patient with its Zantrene drug and will run in parallel with a separate trial in Australia.

Westpac (ASX:WBC) sold its life insurance business to TAL in a deal that marks its exit from the sector. The deal will reap $900 million up front and other ongoing payments which will add 12 basis points to Westpac’s Level 2 common equity Tier 1 capital ratio.

In light of the lockdown in Cairns, Reef Casino (ASX:RCT) has been forced to close the doors of its casinos for 3 days. However its hotel accomodation was exempt, allowed to remain open for essential travel.

 

TRADING HALTS

Tuesday

Marvel Gold (ASX:MVL) – capital raising

Wednesday

Roto-Gro (ASX:RGI) – clarifying announcement
Aldoro Resources (ASX:ARN) – drilling results
Rhinomed (ASX:RNO) – commercial agreement
Great Southern Mining (ASX:GSN) – capital raising
Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) – capital raising
African Gold (ASX:A1G) – exploration results
Tian Poh Resources (ASX:TPO) – ASX  determination
Novonix (ASX:NVX) – capital raising
ikeGPS (ASX:IKE) – capital raising

 

Featured Companies

You might be interested in